Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone dies at the age of 91

Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone, whose haunting scores for Western Spaghetti such as “A Fistful of Dollars” and “The Good, the Poor and the Ugly” helped characterize a cinematic period died on Monday at the age of 91.

According to Morricone’s lawyer, the Italian composer had fractured his fumer 10 days ago and died in one of Rome’s clinics on Monday at dawn.

Outside the clinic, Assumma handed a death notice to reporters penned by the composer himself, beginning with “I, Ennio Morricone, am dead.”

Morricone thanked his close friends and family for their companionship in a touching one-page letter, naming his children and grandchildren and saying “I hope they understand how much I loved them.”

He dedicated “the most painful goodbye” to his wife Maria Travia, whom he married in 1956, saying “to her I renew the extraordinary love that bound us together and that I am sorry to abandon.”

According to his letter, the Italian composer wanted a private funeral as he wrote,

“I don’t want to disturb.”